Fable IV: The King of Blades
by 01Corkscrew
Summary: Years after the revolution, the heir's to the heroic bloodline; Kathleen, Johnathan, Les and his best friend Sven must face their destiny to stop the return of Jack of Blades and an even greater evil lurking behind, pulling his strings. The King of Blades.
1. Chapter 1

Fable 4

The King of Blades

Chapter 1: Return of the Mask

The hero of Oakvale had triumphed over the evil being known as Jack of Blades who had taken the form of a dragon; Albion had finally entered a state of peace. The heroic bloodline continued to flourish throughout the centuries, every time the power of these unique few awakened within their blood; Albion would change into a kingdom of peace and hope. But no one person could have imagined the terror that would unfold upon the land, for soon the shadows of the three fallen court of blades would be cast across Albion to merge into a formidable force; Casting his malevolent shadow, to destroy the bloodline once and for all.

The mask that belonged to the Jack of Blades has been cast into the hellfire of Archon's Folly and the hero returns to his home at the Guild to continue his tasks as a hero. But in secret, someone has been watching the battle, watching the hero, watching Jack of Blades fail. This someone, this man is The King of Blades. Standing on the highest ledge, a tall man in dark armour; his clothes were purple, un-tattered hood, long cloak that covered his chest and drapes down to his ankles with his waist and legs exposed, billowing in the wind.

"Jack, you are a fool"

The King of Blades spoke in his deep, distorted, demonic voice.

"But you have gotten farther than any other. I shall give you one last chance to redeem yourself."

The King stretched his right arm over Archon's Folly; his hand glowed and was surrounded by a deep red light as the last remaining fragment of Jack's mask rose out of the lava and into the palm of the King's hand. The fragment is what is left of upper right side with the eyehole barely intact, but it pulsates weakly with Jack's aura.

"Now Jack, listen well, for this is your most important task. You will lay dormant and allow your mask to reform using the energy given by these humans. You will get your chance for revenge, when I signal it."

Using his instant teleportation; the King of Blades disappears in a reddish light and teleports himself and the mask fragment to Bargate Prison, inside a prisoner's cell where he fell down and cried out in terror as the King appeared before him.

"W-who are you?"

The prisoner cowered and shook as he looked up at the terrifying robed figure.

"Do you want to live?"

The King of Blades spoke to the prisoner.

"W-what?"

The prisoner could barely get his voice above a whisper, thinking the figure wouldn't hesitate to end him if he answered wrong.

"Do you want to live?"

The King repeated to the prisoner who still in his terror couldn't do much more than nod.

"Very well, wear this mask and you shall live, have power beyond your wildest dreams, and be freed from all of your problems, debts, and worries until the end of your days."

Jumping at the opportunity to be released from Bargate; the prisoner slowly stands up and reaches his shaking hand out for the mask. The King, almost gently, places the mask onto the right side of the prisoner's face; and just as it was for so many other people, the mask took control of its new human host, and struggle as he might, Jack of Blades lives again.

"Jack, my time in this realm is at an end. My powers are too great for me to sustain this form for long; take my mask."

The King of Blades mask was bone white with upward slit eye holes with a purple design similar to the Queen of Blades mask and where the mouth should be there is what appears to be an evil grin stitched shut.

"Human bodies are so frail when it comes to power such as yours, when the time is right not even the first Archon will be able to stop us."

Jack's cackle echoed throughout Bargate Prison, those who heard it trembled and those who remembered Jack went mad. Knowing his time was up; the King of Blades gave Jack his final orders.

"Find the masks of the Knight and Queen of Blades, for when the time has come for revenge; the four of us shall burn the world to ash."

The final word echoed as the human body that the King of Blades had been using turned to dust and his spirit returned to the void. Jack picked up the mask from what was left of the King's host, a pile of burning ash.

For centuries Jack has repeated this process, of absorbing the life energy of his hosts to reform his mask. Using and draining each man until his mask was once again restored to its full glory. Feeling truly alive for the first time in decades, Jack did just has the King had said; he laid low and stayed under the radar of the guild when he spied a ship ready to sail for an expedition on the newly expanded docks of Bowerstone.

"A new world for me to conquer; sounds fun."

He grinned underneath his mask, chuckling to himself at the thought of stretching his legs and having a little fun. With a temporary new goal in sight, Jack volunteered to go on this journey to a new world. And just like that the ship left the Bowerstone docks and headed south; days turned into weeks as the voyage dragged on. Many of the others who joined had already died from sickness or from falling overboard; and by the time the ship had reached land, all but one had perished. The new world was nothing of amazement to Jack, but he did notice one thing that made this world different from Albion.

"Sand, sand as far as the eye can see; and it is mine to destroy."


	2. Chapter 2

Fable 4

The King of Blades

KATHLEEN

Chapter 2: It Begins

"One twenty, two nineteen, and one seventeen must combine to stop the ritual that will summon the end of the world, one will leave in danger and an era of darkness could all life be hurled. That is the vision I have seen. Four heroes must work together to keep Jack of Blades from summoning the worst danger Albion has ever faced. And your daughter is one of those four. Do you understand Logan?"

I stood before Logan, years after Crawler had been defeated, now married and expecting a child. I came to him while he was alone in the war room and told him of my prophecy of four. Time has clearly aged Logan, but I can clearly tell he is still as strong as he was before.

"I do. You foresee that my first born child shall be a girl and that she will be one of the four in your prophecy." Logan told me with sadness in his voice.

"I tell you this so that you can prepare her, when your daughter turns eighteen she must journey to the spire and stand before me. From then on I will be her mentor."

"Who will be the other three?" Logan asked me.

"I am not sure; all I know at the time is that your daughter will find the key that opens the door to the truth of the past."

I then took my leave believing that Logan would prepare the future hero. After my departure Logan immediately told his brother, the King of Albion, what I had just told him and in the months following my prophecy, Logan's wife Celia gave birth to a girl who they named Kathleen. She resembled her mother greatly; golden hair, sea green eyes and similar facial structure.

Soon after Kathleen's birth the King called his court to a meeting in order to discuss the beginning of the prophecy. Reaver was the first to speak.

"So you're Majesty, what is the reason that you have pulled us away from our 'busy' schedules?"

"I have to agree with Reaver, it is nowhere near our annual meeting dates, so why the urgency?"

Bowen spoke. Bowen had become the new leader of the Dwellers after his father, Sabine, passed on. King Nathanael stood from his seat and spoke.

"A few months ago my brother Logan was approached by the blind seer Theresa and told him that his first born child will be a girl who will be one of four heroes that will stop Jack of Blades from completing a ritual, that will bring about the end of the world."

"Jack of Blades?" Page said in shock. "I thought he was just a myth, a story to make kids to behave."

Ben Finn sat up and added his part.

"Well apparently not, if he's trying to destroy the world, he must be real."

Ben Finn sat at the King's left side wearing his new military uniform that shows he had become the new general of the Albion Military.

"But why is he here? Why target Albion?" Kalin added.

"I don't know, but if the old tales are true, we can be sure that this could be the greatest threat Albion will ever face. This could be even worse than Crawler."

King said. He was clearly worried about what is to come to his kingdom. Reaver sat back in his seat with his left arm crossed and his right hand lightly touching his face.

"So what is this prophecy the blind seer has for told?"

"'One twenty, two nineteen, and one seventeen must combine to stop the ritual that will summon the end of the world, one will leave in danger and an era of darkness could all life be hurled.' That is what she said; Logan's daughter Kathleen is one of the four as I have already said."

The King of Albion told everyone, he said while walking around the War Room, in an obvious nervous pace.

"Reaver what are you planning?" Page said in concern.

"Oh nothing in the slightest, I was just curious about what the prophecy was. I assure you I have nothing but Albion's 'best' interests in mind. And with that said I shall be off, I have a little appointment to keep you see and I can never be late. Tatty-bye."

Reaver stood and made his leave from the Castle.

"Good riddance." Bowen said.

Kalin, the leader of Aurora, sat quietly listening to what everyone had to say but she finally said what she thought of the situation.

"You're Majesty; years ago you came to Aurora seeking allies to help in your revolution, and in return you kept your word, defeated The Crawler, and finally made Aurora part of Albion. I see this no different from before; as the leader of Aurora I promise to supply as many of my warriors to aid you when this Jack of Blades returns. I hope you will accept."

King Nathanael stopped his nervous pace and looked at Kalin, shocked but that soon turned into a smile. Inspired by her words the King took a deep breath, turned to his court and spoke with his usual inspiring words.

"Thank you. Long ago the first Archon defended Albion from the Court and centuries later my ancestor defeated Jack of Blades twice. Now he has returned once more, now it is our time to defend Albion with our own strength. The Seer tells us of the four heroes that shall defeat the new threat; but it is our duty to defend the people and raise these four heroes. This is not my Albion to control; this is our Albion to protect. We shall not let Jack of Blades have our Kingdom!"

The King's Court all clapped and Ben Finn cheered, even Logan was impressed by his younger brother's words.

"Right; I'll send my men out to look for the remaining heroes, and those that stay will train for when the day comes to fight."

Bowen also stood. "Just as my father did, I shall do for you. My people shall fight beside the King of Albion once more."

"I will help too; I still have my old connections in the Bowerstone underground, someone may have an idea as to who we need to look for. As Mayor of Bowerstone I will exhaust every resource I have to help prepare for battle."

"I say we work together on this one, the two of us has always made a great team. Don't you agree Page?"

"Shut up Ben." Page said to Ben in her usual annoyed tone.

After the meeting all the members of the King's court leaves the War Room, with the exception of Logan and the King himself. They spoke to each other for hours until they finally retired to their rooms. Logan himself was the most upset about the news, when Kathleen was born Logan himself was one of the happiest people in the room and felt absolute love and pride for his daughter. Yet at the same time he felt despair and doubts about her future as a hero with such a dangerous being such as Jack of Blades roaming around.

A year after Kathleen was born the King of Albion Nathanael had a son who was named Lester, but everyone calls him Les. Two years after Les was born Logan had a second child, a son named Jonathan. Together they were known as the three royal heirs of Albion, the people were sure that Les would take over the kingdom but both Kathleen and Jonathan showed great potential in becoming the next ruler.

Les and Jonathan look like their fathers; Les' hair is black while Jonathan's is a light brown. Les has dark blue eyes while Jonathan has brown. Jonathan keeps his hair short like is uncles and Les is growing it out. Kathleen is also growing her hair out, but instead of having straight, she curled it and wears a green ribbon to keep her hair out of her face. Their clothes reflect their personalities, Kathleen's are shades of red and auburn, bold, stands out and not at all frilly or girly but retains elegance. Jonathan's clothes are neat and presentable but stand out in a very obvious way and finally Les' clothes are casual and laid back but still has an elegant and clean look.

Ten years had passed without incident or any indication that Jack of Blades would return; Kathleen grew up with Reaver being forced to teach her how to use a gun with a firing squad keeping an eye on him. With Ben Finn escorting; Kathleen, Les and Jonathan explore Millfields to satisfy their need for adventure.

"I can't believe your dad is letting us go adventuring after the whole Balverine thing." Jonathan said to his cousin Les.

"It's not my fault; the name of the creature from the teleportation spell was smudged. So how was I supposed to know that it would teleport five Balverines to the garden?"

"You know I am having a hard time believing that, mainly because on the creature teleportation spell you could easily tell it was a long word starting with a capital b." Kathleen added.

"In my defense, I thought it would be something small like bugs or bees." Les spoke in confidence.

"You are an idiot for even attempting the spell!"

Kathleen and Jonathan never really liked their cousin Les due to their joined belief that they are the rightful heirs due to their father being older than their uncle. Over the years Les has irritated his cousins with constant pranks and childish insults; Kathleen is a little taller than Les so he calls her 'Amazon' or 'Giraffe'. It is because of his very childish nature that he also messes with his younger cousin Jonathan; who is much like his uncle in personality, outgoing, friendly natured and can get along with just about anyone. Les, who finds mostly everyone annoying for not appreciating the effort he puts into his pranks, would rather not have any friends but teases Jonathan by calling him 'Good Boy' like a dog or 'Goody Two Socks'.

"Alright you three, that's enough, we are all here to explore this region; not wring each other's necks."

Ben Finn interrupted the little family feud and made them behave by entertaining them by telling his favorite story of how he killed three Hollow Men with one shot. The three royal heirs groaned in despair as they have heard that story hundreds of times in the past, but despite their pleas to not tell the story again; Ben proceeds with the tale.

"I swear if I have to hear this story again I am going to scream." Kathleen whispered to her family.

"You'd think he would get tired of telling that same story after the one hundredth time." Les added.

"But no, this must be the four hundredth time we've been forced to listen to it." Jonathan whispered back.

"Quick while he's not paying attention, let's get out of here before we die of boredom." Les suggested.

"Right behind you." Jonathan nodded.

"Lead the way."

While telling his story Ben Finn turned his back for a few seconds, Kathleen, Les and Jonathan took that time to silently wander off and explore the cliff waterfall of Bower Lake northeast of Reaver's abandoned mansion. After fifteen minutes of wandering cautiously through the forests and up the steep hills the three children adventures lose Ben and find themselves at the top of the Bower Lake Cliffs.

A year before Kathleen was born there was a massive earthquake in Millfields that made the normal sized river split and took the waterfall back one whole kilometer as well as making the cliffs taller, steeper and extremely dangerous to walk near them.

"So what now?" Jonathan asked his older sister and cousin.

Kathleen and Les' eyes met and instantly knew that for once, they had the same thought.

"We climb down of course." The two cousins said in unison.

Jonathan started to panic a little, not because they were about to climb down a steep cliff and most likely fall to their deaths, because his sister Kathleen and cousin Les actually agreed on something and are now helping each other find a safe way down. Kathleen went alone up river to find a way down, while Les took Jonathan down river.

Jonathan and Les reach the waterfall of Bower Lake and have yet to see any safe way down.

"Darn!" Les said in disappointment "You know at this point I would rather jump into the river and swim upstream like a salmon than walk back up."

Tired of walking Jonathan sits down and rubs his feet while Les just falls back on the grass and just lays there.

"Maybe we should have found some rope before trying to do this." Jonathan said while looking at the cliff walls. "I mean look how far down this cliff goes. Hey Les, look at this. At the bottom, there's a part that looks like a giant man's face."

Jonathan leans over the side to get a better look, thinking it was just his imagination, and it looks too much like a man's face to be something that the water made. Curious Les comes over and takes a look too.

"It is a man's face!" Les yells excitedly. "It's a Demon Door, my dad said that there are many of these things all over Albion and Aurora; and the only way to open them is to fulfill their requests. I really want to get down there now."

"What do you think is inside it?" After hearing Les' story about the Demon Door, Jonathan was also getting excited about the contents of such a door.

Both excited, Les and Jonathan start acting like hyper girls and begin discussing what could be inside the Demon Door; so much so that they don't even notice the person standing right behind them.

"I found some rope!"

Shocked, both Jonathan and Les screamed like little girls and continued screaming after turning around to see Kathleen; standing over them with a long worn rope, most of which was looped around her left arm, while in her right hand was the other end tied in a noose, smiling. Several second into the boy's sissy screaming Kathleen's excited smile turned into a disappointed neutral gaze.

"What's with the rope, and why is it tied into a noose like you want to kill me?" Les and Jonathan were catching their breath after believing that Kathleen was about to hang one of them.

"I found this rope while walking upriver; it used to be part of a bridge that was destroyed when the river split. Look at how much moss is on it!"

Kathleen happily tried to shove the rope in Les' face; who with all his strength, got up and ran away from the cliff edge and from his cousins.

"Get that FILTHY rope away from me! Do you know what kind of disease that thing could be infested with!? Get rid of it, please." Les said while cowering behind an oak tree. The only child of the King of Albion and Hero of Brightwall is a severe germaphobe.

"What were you two talking about any way, something about a door?" Kathleen asked her little brother.

"Oh right! Look Kathleen, Les says that there is a Demon Door down there! Isn't that the coolest thing ever?"

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get down there."

Holding the worn rope up Kathleen and Jonathan then proceed to tie it to the nearest tree, which was leaning over the cliff and only half was still in the ground. The rope swinging in the wind dangling only 3 feet from the wide and calm river, looked safe enough but none of the three adventurers knew how old the rope was or if it and the tree together would be able to support their weight.

Not wanting to touch the moss covered rope; Les pulls a pair of black leather gloves out his pockets and hastily puts them on and begins climbing down after Jonathan. Holding the rope with their hands and using the cliff wall to support their feet, the three adventurers began their decent.

Kathleen has also heard of the Demon Doors from the stories that her uncle told. One Demon Door he encountered was after he became King and it opened up right away and gave him one million gold, another wanted him to have a very powerful weapon and it gave him a Military Suit. What kind of treasure would this Demon Door hold? Kathleen thought to herself. Would it be a type of clothing, a rare weapon, lots of gold or an ancient item of great power? But Kathleen also remembered her father's words 'The greater the treasure, the harder the challenge.' Whatever the challenge may be Kathleen believed herself capable of handling it, and besides she had the help of her polite and helpful younger brother and overzealous and possible psychotic cousin.

"I can't believe I am climbing down this filthy rope with you two, I mean seriously. Look at it I am surprised it can hold our weight." All while whining about the rope, Les tilts his head back to look up at the tree. "And couldn't we find a healthier tree? This one looks like it is about to break."

"Les shut up, you're going to jinx it!"

But it was too late, after Kathleen yelled at Les for his whining the three of them heard a crunching sound followed by a very loud snap and instantly sends them falling and screaming down into the water and the tree came down with them. It was a fifteen foot drop and as luck would have it the tree did not land on them and the river was not too strong for them to swim to the Demon Door.

The face of the Demon Door hasn't changed in years; it was if it was carved into the cliff itself. There seemed to be something special about this one though, Kathleen noticed that there were lit gas lamps on both sides of the door's edges and the ground in front of it looked as if it was made of marble with matching pillars. A Demon Door with a marble porch, pillars and two fancy gas lamps.

"Whoa, fancy. Who do you think built it sister?"

"The Old Kingdom." Les interrupted. "When father sent me to the Academy to learn something useful as punishment for setting fire to the throne room, Samuel handed me a book that showed up one day; in it was a short story about the history of Albion and it was called the Old Kingdom. They made the Demon Doors out of magic and created machines that ran on Will alone."

"Wow." Jonathan was easily entertained about stories of Albion and that included stories of the Old Kingdom.

"So Mr. Book Smart, how do we open it?" Kathleen asked.

"Don't know; we have to do whatever the door tells us I guess." Les said while shrugging his shoulders.

The three royal adventurers stood shoulder to shoulder, Kathleen in the middle, Jonathan to her left and Les to her right; as they walked forward to the Demon Door. When they got close enough the Demon Door's head moved and yawned as if it was waking from a long stiff sleep.

"Knowledge is the key to the future and past, but in order to obtain such knowledge one must be able to afford it. In short, money equals knowledge and knowledge is power. Bring me an object of great wealth and I will give you the knowledge of the Old Kingdom."

The Demon Door told them his challenge, but the three adventurers had no idea what object had such great wealth.

"But, what object in all of Albion could be worth the knowledge of the Old Kingdom?" Les asked the Demon Door. But the door froze back up after telling them his challenge.

Disappointed the three adventurers leave the Demon Door, swim to land and make their way back to Ben Finn; who has spent two hours looking for them, terrified of what the King and Logan would do to him if they found out he lost them or they got hurt somehow.

"Where did you three run off to? I have been looking everywhere for you. DO you have any idea what your father's would have done to me if you three got hurt?" After venting Ben calmed down and asked them of their adventure, and hearing their story cheered Ben up. He even encouraged him to explore more areas and to never let anything stand in their way.

"Now about that object of great wealth. As I recall, years ago the King retrieved a valuable diamond. In fact I think it was the largest diamond in the world, and it is worth seven hundred thousand gold." The children's eyes lit up with excitement at the thought of using it to open the demon door. "But it was sold for seven hundred thousand and the money used for the treasury. Who bought the diamond is a mystery to me. But I've never been inside a Demon Door and it sounds like it could be an exciting adventure, so I will see what I can found out about who bought the Desert Star and what we can do to get it. Just leave it to good old Ben."

Filled with hope for the future the four adventurers leave Millfields and return to the castle to await the chance to open the Demon Door, the keeper of great knowledge of the past.


	3. Chapter 3

Fable 4

The King of Blades

Les

Chapter 3: A New Friend

Three months have passed since Les and his two cousins discovered a Demon Door in Millfields; and in that time the general of the Albion Army and their good friend, Ben Finn has been searching for the Desert Star to use as an offering so the Demon Door will open. Les is bored, leaning out his bed room window on the second floor of the castle, feeling the breeze on his face and watching his uncle Logan training Jonathan in the garden. Kathleen was shooting bottles with a pellet pistol and hitting them with deadly accuracy while talking to her friend, a nobleman's daughter. He started thinking about what he really wanted.

"I want a friend; but not just any friend. The best-est best friend that I could ever hope for. Is that so wrong?"

Les had no one who could understand his logic. When Les was seven, he tried bungee jumping out of the castle tower with nothing but a rope; he used a can of red paint and painted a large red X on the tower with the words 'Shoot Here' painted above for everyone to see, all while upside down; he did it to see if he could. Les' punishment was to first wash all the paint off then to scrub the castle restrooms clean with a toothbrush. When Les was two, he chewed off the front left leg of a chair in the war room; and since he was so young his punishment was a scolding and a time out, the latter of which he spent sleeping.

Ever since Les was born, his parent feared for him. When he was born Les did not cry and he had a fever of 101Feirenheit. His mother Laylah believed it was her fault as since she is from Aurora perhaps gave him a virus from her homeland.

After a full twenty-four hours of worry, Les' fever finally went down to the average temperature and his began crying. Many believed Les to be a miracle for surviving something so severe as an infant. But ever since that day, doctors have noticed that Les was not developing as a normal child should.

Les' development was considered odd to everyone, sure he cried when he wanted something, but he liked to bite and eat strange things the moment he got teeth. He bit the face off of a porcelain Reaver doll that Reaver had given to Kathleen, and chewed on the glass for a few seconds before spitting it out, he was eight months old. Les liked to roll himself up in a rug and then roll down the castle's center stairs. But the one thing that really struck the royal brothers as off is when Les would always smile and giggle at Reaver no matter what he did.

When it came to talking to children his own age, commoner or noble, Les was unable to find someone who accepted him and all his insanity. All the kids his age only try to be friends with him because his father is the King, and the girls are all the same to him, especially the noble girls. They believe that they are better, they scream and demand this and that from their parents who do nothing but please and spoil them.

Even Les was taught better than that, despite the fact that he freaks out if a speck of dirt gets on his clothes and keeps up with the latest fashion while helping his older cousin pick out a nice outfit to wear. Les has never demanded anything from his parents nor have they made any attempt to spoil him, Nathaniel has been teaching his son, niece and nephew the value of earning what they want.

"But there is no one in Albion my own age who could possibly understand my way of things."

Les sighed; lying in the middle of his bedroom floor, not even the sounds of footsteps coming towards his room was enough to get him excited. All it meant for him was that someone found out what he did wrong and one of the guards was up there to get him. Closer and closer the footsteps came, evenly spaced never increasing, never decreasing. The door opened and in came Phil; Phil was always the one to go get Les', drag him down to the throne room to be scolded by his father.

"Hey Phil, so where did you find the green cannon ball?" Les turned his head over to Phil, who just stood at attention.

"We found 'The Orb of Magicka' in Industrial, imbedded into the roof of the Shelter." Les got up with excitement and looked out his window and whistled.

"That one got some distance." Impressed with the results, Les nods his head with a grin on his face. "So my aim was that off, I guess I am going to have to use Kathleen to assassinate Reaver."

Phil signed then escorted Les to the throne room, to Les; this was just another routine that he had to follow. His daily schedule was exactly the same everyday for the last four years. Wake up, get cleaned up, change clothes, breakfast, greet people, sword practice, study, lunch, more studying, greet more people, more practice, lessons in proper etiquette, dinner, clean up and then go to sleep. Everyday like a wind up doll he would go to each lesson, he never even studied with his cousins as each of them had their own personal schedule.

Alone and repeating each day, two years ago he appeared to have snapped and when he went with his father to greet people he ran through the crowd wearing Kathleen's Sunday best, Jonathan's guard hat and his mother's royal scepter; screaming 'Freedom at last!' He ran from the Castle front, through Bowerstone Market and into Bowerstone Old Town. His father, King Nathanael, chased after him and nearly caught Les; but Les disappeared into a crowd of followers that surrounded the King.

The King sent out the guards to find Les, and Phil just so happened to be the one to find him. Seeing a crowd gather in Bowerstone Old Town around the pigknight statue; Phil looked up and saw Les, sitting on the shoulders of the statue's knight throwing fruit at the villagers.

"Get away from me you rotten bunch of hobbes!" On Les' back is a sack filled with the fruit he had stolen from the stalls, containing a wide variety of fruit and several large pineapples. Phil sent another guard back to inform the King and then proceeded to try and get the young prince down.

"Giddy up you swine!" Les yelled to the pigknight statue as he tried bouncing, kicking and hitting the statue's head with his mother's scepter to make it move.

"Prince Les, please get off the pigknight statue." Phil called over to Les while his comrades began escorting the villagers away from the area.

"You're a pigknight!" Les shouted back and threw a pineapple into Phil's shoulder; the blow was enough to make him stumble back and grab his left arm in pain.

"Les! Get down from there right now!" King Nathanael shouted to his out of control son. "If you don't come down right now, I am going make you."

"Why don't you come up here and try it?" Les shouted back.

While arguing with his father Les began to bang the scepter harder and harder against the statue's head until it finally gives and the top of the scepter; which is made out of gold and jewels, shatters and leaves only the handle. "Oops." He said with a concerned look on his face, the face that shows that he will be in big trouble once he is caught, which he is. Distracted by the broken scepter, Les didn't notice the guards climbing up after him until it was too late and grabbed him by wrapping one arm around his neck and pulling him down where the second guard carried him down; Les screaming obscenities the whole way.

The way Les was before his melt down was nothing compared to what he did afterwards, before his meltdown all Les did was paint on things, like the red X on the tower, scare his cousins and the staff. After the meltdown Les started destroying things. For instance, Kathleen's clothes so he can use the material to set a straw dummy on fire pretending it was Reaver. Now his newest destructive creation was his father's trophy called the Orb of Magicka that Les stole out of the King's trophy room.

So on his way to face punishment, Les just calmly walked behind Phil, not a care in the world about what his punishment would be this time. Cleaning the bathroom, holding buckets of water until he can't take it, or was it forcing him to fix what he destroyed with the orb. Either way he has been there and went through those punishments many times before; now Les is hoping his father would get creative in punishments.

Now they have arrived outside the throne room, the servants glancing over at Les but they dare not whisper about the rumors so close the throne room. Phil knocks on the door and escorts Les in and sitting in the chair was his father with a serious face, his uncle Logan on his father's right with an even more serious look. Logan wasn't looking at Les; he was looking at his own children who were also standing in front of the king with their heads down.

"Your Majesty, I have brought Les as you requested." Phil bowed and then left, closing the door behind him. Les knew the usual routine, walk in, stand, get scolded, receive punishment and later complete punishment; and this time he will have company.

"Les, Kathleen, Jonathan; do you three know why you are here?" The King spoke to them. Kathleen, standing in between Jonathan on her left and Les on her right, stepped forward.

"We're here because Les is an idiot; he stole my cannon out of my room and used it without my permission. I don't see how I should be blamed, it's always Les' fault."

"And he took the cutlass that Ben Finn had given me and the military hat, then just left them with the cannon. I think he should be punished completely." Jonathan added.

"Thanks for your support." Les said sarcastically.

"We are not about to be punished for something you did on your own." Jonathan responded.

"Siblings stick together, but you're just our cousin so you don't count."

"Phew, and here I thought I was part of the team."

Then all three of them started bickering over who did what until Logan stepped in.

"That's enough! Look at you three, already at each other's necks. Besides Kathleen, Jonathan; I thought I raised you two better. Lying and trying to frame your cousin for this incident. All three of you rolled that cannon out to the garden wall, Les sat on top of it with the cutlass and hat as Kathleen aimed it, and Jonathan loaded it. You three are all guilty."

"Prove it!" Les yelled.

"We don't have to, Logan and myself watched as you fired off the thing." The King spoke. "Now for your punishments; you three will help the people of Morning Wood clean the sewage leak until it is cleaned up."

"No it's filthy!" Les screamed in terror.

"To bad, you could have killed someone with that stunt!" The King yelled back at his son.

"Not someone, just Reaver. I really wanted that hat." Les calmly told his father and uncle.

"What?" King Nathanael and Logan said in unison.

"Reaver's hat, I really want that hat." Les continued.

"Besides, Albion would be a much nicer place without him." Kathleen added.

"Why can't you just have one made?" Logan asked his nephew.

"Because there would be two and I want the one." Les boldly told them.

"*sigh* Forget it." Logan put his hand on his forehead and had them escorted back to their rooms, as their punishment began the next day.

That night Les didn't want to take part in cleaning a sewage leak out of fear of getting filthy and a possible disease, snuck out of the castle with a bag filled with his essentials. He didn't get far because as soon as he finished climbing out of the tower, Kathleen and Jonathan tackled Les.

"Let me go." Les whispered to his cousins.

"If we have to do this, then so do you. Now move." Kathleen whispered back.

The two siblings dragged Les back into the castle, lock him in his closet and left to go to bed.

Morning came and none of the three heirs were happy about it, Phil was assigned to escort them to Morning Wood and to make sure they complete their punishment. As they left, Les voiced his complaints loudly.

"Child Abuse; being forced to work in the sewers is child abuse!"

"Would you give it a rest already?" Kathleen snapped at Les.

"You've been screaming since we left." Jonathan added.

Leaving the castle Les and his cousins were taken through Bowerstone Industrial, over the years thanks to current King, has improved greatly with Page as mayor of Bowerstone Market, Industrial and the Old Quarter. The smoke that used to blanket the skies has cleared and its citizens can see the stars at night, blue skies and white clouds in the day. The sewer from Industrial is the fastest route to Morning Wood and since a part of the sewer collapsed its contents have been spilling into Morning Wood in an alarming rate. Morning wood has not changed much at all in the years since the Crawler's defeat, thought the houses and shops have improved little by little. The hollow men still haunt the deepest parts of the swamp and Ossuary, but they never come into the village.

Four hours into the clean up Les noticed that some of the villagers where those with unfamiliar faces.

"Hey Kathy, John; do those people look out of place to you?"

Looking in the direction of the village, Jonathan and Kathleen saw what Les meant. Walking among the Morning Wood villagers, who had dark hair and skin, where six men, eight women and four children who appeared taller than normal, tan skin and hair as fair as snow; with eyes blue as the sky. When the three heirs started staring at these strangers, they hid their faces, turned their backs and escaped into the houses. They were wearing worn out shirts and pants and looking more carefully they looked like slaves or escaped slaves.

"Hey Kathy, didn't you say once that Reaver used to keep slaves?" Les asked Kathleen. Getting back to work Kathleen answered her cousin's question while almost getting some of the sewage on his pants, on purpose obviously.

"Yeah, but Reaver doesn't call them slaves; he calls them workers."

"So you think these foreign looking people could be some of Reaver's 'workers'?"Jonathan asked his sister, also nearly hitting Les with more sewage.

"Hey watch where you're slinging that filth!" Les narrowly dodged the second wave, fortunately for him Les was wearing long rubber boots and child sized worker's overalls and rubber gloves, but that does not help his phobia.

"So you think Reaver is at it again?"Les continued.

"Reaver has always been doing this, that's for sure. But he always has enough money to 'give away' so that no one goes telling our father or uncle." Kathleen responded to Les' stupid and obvious question.

Three days have passed since Les and his cousins began their punishment and the clean up was finally complete; as they entered Bowerstone Industrial from Morning Wood, the skies where dark with storm clouds. Les didn't care, after working in the humid swamp he welcomed the cool breeze and the coming rain. When they entered Bowerstone Market the rain was pouring down on them; Les, Kathleen, Jonathan and Phil were the only ones they could see roaming the streets but when Les looked down the alley that lead behind the pub he saw something that stood out.

"Hey Kathy do you see something in the pub alley?" Les poked Kathleen in her shoulder repeatedly.

"Stop poking me and stop calling me Kathy." Kathleen hated that nickname ever since Les called her Haggy Kathy.

"I think I see someone in the pub alley, look."

Les went off to get a better look at what he thought was a person; Kathleen shrugged it off as another one of Les' insanity moments and made Jonathan come with her. Phil decided to take Kathleen and Jonathan back to the castle then come back for Les, but after he gets another guard to watch him. After all there is no telling what Les could get himself into in that amount of time.

What caught Les' attention was hair as white as the snow hiding behind a barrel. As Les got closer he saw more than just white hair; he saw it was a boy about his age with tan skin and sky blue eyes wearing the same worn out clothes as those strangers back in Morning Wood but he looked taller than normal. The boy's hair was medium length with bangs covering his face and he was soaked to the bone, shivering because of the cold rain but it was the first time he had been clean in weeks.

The boy heard a noise and jerked his head around and saw Les sneaking up on him, he jumped back and tried crawling away in fear with Les pleading for him to calm down.

"Hey wait its okay. I'm not going to hurt you." Les cornered the scared boy in the alley and extended his hand and raised the other to show he had no weapons.

"My name is Les, what is yours?" The boy was confused by what Les had told him then pointed to Les.

"Yes I'm Les, who are you?" The boy then pointed to himself.

"Yes, what is your name?" The boy struggled to get up but he refused Les' attempts to help him. He finally stood up straight and stuttered out "My name Sven."

"What?" Les couldn't quite hear as Sven could barely speak.

"My name Sven." He said louder.

"Sven; nice to meet you Sven I'm Les!" Les exclaimed while violently shaking his hand in excitement. Sven couldn't follow what was going on but smiled anyways.

"Les!" Sven exclaimed and shook his hand in return.

Without letting go of Sven's hand Les ran out of the pub alley and past the guard towards the castle; Sven still had no idea what was going on but he trusted Les for some unexplained reason and followed. Les running at full speed with Sven in tow into the castle and into the throne room, the guards could do nothing but watch. When he entered the throne room his father, uncle and cousins where standing there discussing the end of their punishment; only to be interrupted by Les swinging open the doors and running up to his father to present Sven.

"Les, what is it this time?" The King asked his son.

"This is Sven, can I keep him please?" Les begged.

"What?" Les' father replied.

"Les, you do know that 'Sven' is a human and you cannot 'keep' him; right?" Logan continued. Les' face dropped to disappointment.

"But I found him in an alley just like a stray pet, so how is Sven any different?" Sven finally started to understand what was going on and stepped forward.

"Les Sven friend!" Sven announced with confidence.

"Why is he calling you a friend?" Kathleen asked, after what Les has done in the past, she is genuinely surprised that someone is calling Les their friend.

"Wow he can talk, what else can he do?" Jonathan said. Sven's smile turned into a big grin and he responded by yelling his other trick.

"Sven sees hooded blind lady; she say I see past of Albion!"

King Nathanael and Logan were shocked to hear how Sven described Theresa.

"Sven how old are you?" Logan asked the excitable boy.

"I is 9 years of age."

At that moment the memory of Theresa's prophecy filled Logan's mind. 'One Twenty two nineteen and one seventeen.' At eighteen Kathleen is to leave for the spire, what if Kathleen is supposed to save the world at twenty and Les and Sven being one year younger than she is. What if Les and Sven are the two nineteen and Jonathan being three years younger than his sister is; could he be the one seventeen? The King allowed Sven to stay until they could find out what he was doing in Bowerstone Market. Les and Sven were so happy that they ran off into the castle screaming in joy, and no one knows what kind of torment they could cause.

Logan and the King dismiss Kathleen and Jonathan so that they could speak alone.

"So that is what you believe Logan?" Nathanael asked his elder brother.

"Yes."

"And you are right to believe so."

Both Logan and King Nathanael remember that voice; it was the voice of Theresa; their father's guide. Suddenly the color of everything around them, excluding themselves, goes grey, time stops and standing in front of the door was the blind seer in her usual outfit.

"Sven is indeed one of the four heroes, along with Les and Jonathan. Sven has the ability that works in opposite of mine; I can see events that have not occurred yet, while Sven can see events that has happened centuries ago." Theresa explained.

"But how did this boy get here?" The King asked

"Reaver kidnapped Sven and other people from his country and brought them here to Albion to be used as slaves from a land north of here called Isen."

"Reaver again, why he always seems be in the middle of everything?" Logan groaned.

"You must look after the boy and make sure his will abilities grow along with Les', Kathleen's ranged skills and Jonathan's strength, sword and hammer skills improve over the next ten years. It is their fate as heroes."

Theresa faded into nothing, the color around the room returns and time moves forward once more. The King slouched back in his chair and Logan let out a concerned sigh.

"Les as one of the four heroes that will help defeat Jack of Blades, this might not end well. Don't get me wrong, I love my son and I believe that he can, but."

"But he has a lot a maturing to do before he can go anywhere unsupervised; you remember the piranha in the toilet bowl." Logan continued.

"That goes without saying, but this Sven boy is capable of seeing the past and if he did escape slavery Reaver will be after him. Looks like he is my responsibility since my son brought him home."

"Let's just hope Les doesn't teach him any of his many bad habits." Logan added. In mid-agreement, the two brothers heard Les and Sven's cheering voices followed by a loud crash, a screaming servant, Jonathan yelling out "that was so cool, are you two alright?" and Kathleen calling out for her father and uncle. "Les taught Sven how to use a shield to sled down the stairs!"

"This is going to be a long ten years." The King groaned and Logan nodding his head in agreement.


End file.
